By Jim Steadman

The lateness of this year’s U.S. cotton crop is becoming more apparent in the USDA Crop Progress report dated June 27.

Planting numbers are no longer being reported. But squaring numbers are telling the tale of crop maturity. This week’s report showed that squaring is reported in 32% of the U.S. crop – up 11% from a week ago and slightly behind the 5-year average for late June. California, Louisiana and Missouri showed the largest weekly increases. Yet only five states are currently ahead of average, with all other states lagging from 2% to 57% behind.

Boll set reports increased slightly for the week – now up to 7%.

Crop condition numbers remained steady this week, with 52% of the U.S. crop rated good/excellent, 41% fair, and 7% rated poor/very poor.